Jack (film)

Jack
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Francis Ford Coppola
Produced by	Francis Ford Coppola Fred Fuchs
Written by	James DeMonaco Gary Nadeau
Starring	Robin Williams Diane Lane Jennifer Lopez Bill Cosby
Music by	Michael Kamen Bryan Adams Robert Lange
Cinematography	John Toll
Editing by	Barry Malkin
Distributed by	Hollywood Pictures American Zoetrope
Release date(s)	August 9, 1996
Running time	113 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$45 million
Gross revenue	$58,586,889
IMDb profile

Jack is a 1996 film starring Robin Williams, Diane Lane, Brian Kerwin, Jennifer Lopez, Fran Drescher, and Bill Cosby, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Williams plays the role of Jack Powell, a boy who ages four times faster than normal, somewhat similar to Werner syndrome.

Plot

The movie begins with a Halloween party going on. Suddenly, Karen Powell (Diane Lane) goes into labor, and is rushed to a hospital. The delivery is successful, though it is found out that the baby is born 10 weeks premature, and suffers from an aging disease (a fictional exaggerated form of Werner syndrome). This particular disease in the movie ages Jack Powell (Robin Williams) four times faster than normal children. It is said by his doctor that he will have the appearance of a 40 year old man when he is 10 years old. This is when we see Jack next, with a group of four boys telling possible stories of a 'monstruosity' of a boy their age that cannot go to school. Jack scares them away by dipping a fake eye into slime and throwing it out his window at them. Due to the first 10 years of his life being lived only in his home, Jack is extremely childish, because he has had no contact with people other than his parents and his teacher. It is his teacher Lawrence Woodruff (Bill Cosby) that introduces the idea that Jack should go to public school, but his parents balk at the idea of their son going to a public school where he could be emotionally hurt. Jack becomes liked and respected by everyone who knows him by the end of the film for what he has overcome and the film goes through Jack's whole life and how he decides to take action against things and how some things make him the happiest boy there can be. We see Jack's attempts to be normal in school, when he deals with his first crush and heartbreak, and relationship with his teacher (Jennifer Lopez). At first, Jack is exploited by the other kids to win at basketball against bullies, and eventually to get adult magazines and other such items. However, Louis accepts Jack, and soon after the other kids follow suit, not just using Jack as a means to their own ends, but because they like him as a person. The movie ends with a very elder-looking Jack and his four best friends graduating high school. As Jack walks back from his valedictorian speech, he tells his mother that he is off to a party and jumps into a car and drives off.

Cast

• Robin Williams as Jack Charles Powell
• Diane Lane as Karen Powell
• Brian Kerwin as Brian Powell
• Jennifer Lopez as Miss Marquez
• Bill Cosby as Mr. Lawrence Woodruff
• Fran Drescher as Dolores "D.D." Durante
• Adam Zolotin as Louis "Louie/Lou" Durante
• Todd Bosley as Eddie
• Seth Smith as John-John
• Mario Yedidia as George
• Michael McKean as Paulie

Trivia

• Francis Ford Coppola gave Robin Williams camping gear to spend the night in his backyard and ten dollars to spend at Toys R Us before shooting the film.
• Tom Hanks was the original choice for the lead role because of his performance in Big.
• If you look closely at the costume of the woman dressed as a wine bottle in the opening scenes, you'll notice the wine she's dressed as comes from Francis Ford Coppola's vineyards.

External links

• Jack at the Internet Movie Database
• Jack on RetroJunk
• Jack on MovieWeb